Question about teachers.

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I am probably wrong thinking this but.... Surely you've heard "kids our are future etc." but I don't believe in this. How about adults are our future? It's grade school teachers that get the attention but how about say my psychology teacher (insert other fields) Isn't SHE teaching the FUTURE PSYCHOLOGIST OF AMERICA?! !! ! But it's the grade school teacher who get the "they are teaching our future" line. Why is this? College teachers are teaching the FUTURE of there fields! Why don't THEY get the attention? Surely not everyone goes to College but they are teaching the FUTURE of there fields! Yes I repeated myself. I'm sorry I tend to do this verbally and am just making a point (after hearing this line on a tv show) I'm "venting" I HATE the line. Does anyone agree with my view or am I wrong/weird etc?

I'm not sure that I understand your point correctly, so, sorry if this is off topic. As I understand it, the reason that grade school teachers in the US get more public attention than, say college professors, is not just that they teach a larger portion of the population, but also a very vulnerable one (children and young teens), and, most importantly, that they have worse working conditions than other teachers. Working conditions at college and university level tend to be much better and students are older. Also, because working conditions are worse at the grade school level, there is a real shortage of such teachers, which is worrying for a host of reasons.

I don't think that the focus on grade school teachers is meant to be disrespectful to others who teach. (I teach college, btw.)

Very cool! I'm currently working on my doctorate, hoping to be a professor, too.

A lot (not all, but a lot) of college professors are a lot more concerned about their research than their teaching. That's why universities have to have requirements in place telling professors they MUST teach X number of classes.

And honestly I can't say I blame them, because the system is set up in a way that kinda requires them to focus more on research. The "body of work", not the teaching, in many fields is the primary influence on whether a professor getting tenure or not. In psychology that's definitely the case.

According to the Community college site the professors focus more on teaching than research or that's what the site says anyway more hands on teachers. (considering I upset the psychology teacher by going to her office daily questioning her the whole "hands on" thing seems doubtful)

Community Colleges are a bit different from 4-year institutions. By their nature, community colleges encourage more focus on teaching.

Additionally, many people who teach at community college are not tenured professors. Community colleges like to hire professionals to teach evenings after work or hire them away from their profession. At a community college you'll see, for example, accountants teaching accounting, not academics with a doctorate teaching accounting. This can be good for students because it puts them in contact with people who have been in the working world which often gives a very different perspective than academia. (Not to denigrate either perspective, but they are definitely coming from different backgrounds and with different focuses.)

So pretty much any community college will be able to honestly say that their professors focus more on teaching than research because that's how that particular corner of academia is structured.

Yea that is definitely true. I don't know about the "hands-on" thing cause I was never interested in being hands-on with teachers or professors (even now in grad school I'm not like that, although I am trying hard to do better with it), but community colleges are more teaching-oriented for sure.

Well, as far as the hands-on thing, most professors are happy when someone comes in to visit during their office hours to ask a question, get clarification, etc. But if a student keeps coming in every day, they can get concerned or upset or frustrated because that's an indication that the student really needs to get a tutor. Professors usually like to help, but they don't like to feel like they're being used as a tutor because that's not their job.

I'm surprised that zelda's professor didn't suggest she get a tutor instead of just getting upset (which doesn't solve anything.) Many universities and community colleges offer free tutoring to everyone or to special needs students (and someone on the spectrum would definitely count as special needs.) Other universities and community colleges only offer tutoring for a price. It's definitely something to look into, though, if one finds one's self coming to the professor's office hours every day for clarifications and explanations.

It's possible that you have a bad instructor. It is also possible that your "daily questioning" is considered socially inappropriate. Is it possible to ask the instructor what particular aspect of your behavior is upsetting?